Track-suspension apparatus.



No. 698,548. I Patented Apr. 29, I902.

' G. A. OWEN.

TRACK SUSPENSION APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 24, 1901.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. OWEN, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

TRACK-SUSPENSION APPARATUS.

$PEGIFIOATiON forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,548, dated April 29, 1902.

Application filed June 24, 1901; Serial No. 65,744. (No model.

den and State of Massachusetts, have invent-.

ed certain new and useful Improvements in Track-SuspensionApparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the transmission of mail and other matter, and is applicable, for instance, in connection with such mail-transmission apparatuses or systems as are illustrated in Letters Patent of the United States issued to me July 2, 1901, Nos. 677,423 and 677,424. The present improvements more particularly relate to the'suspension means for the trackway on which the conveyor, which may be cable-propelled or electrically propelled, runs, the object being to provide forms of trackways having fitness for the purpose contemplated and having means for their sup port which are capable of maintaining the track in all portions of its length-levelor even and for rectifying or evening up the,

track, which after protracted use may have become uneven or out of true.

The features of invention reside in the form of the posts which constitute the primary supports for the trackway; also, in the combination, with the posts,of the longitudinally strung or connected cables or the like from which the track is suspended and means for taking up any undue slackness in the cable; also, to the trackway and clips which embrace the same, having eyes by means of which,through depending supports, the track is supported; also, to the combination, with the longitudinal cables and thetrackway, of the depending supports consisting of wires or rods having take-up devices individual thereto.

The invention also consists in the posts having offset portions whereby an unobstructed opening is provided for the passage of the conveyor in line with each post by the same and such posts having above the offset portions upwardextensions constituting ele:

ment under the lug.

sistsin certain features and constructions, as

particularly pointed out hereinafter and covered in and by the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the trackway, one of the series of supporting-posts therefor, and the track-supporting appliances. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the upper portion of one of the posts, on a larger scale, illustrating the take-up devices for the longitudinally-extending support-cable. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 represent desirable forms of trackways which may be used in my improved apparatus, the same having characteristics and appliances hereinafter referred to.

In the drawings, A represents one of the posts, of which, as manifest, a series will be provided along the street at suitable intervals, asrequired. Each post has anoffsetportion40, as produced by the two approximately rightangular bends 42, to give the clear space just below the trackway B for the free passage of the conveyor 0, which may have a motor D for its propulsion, taking its driving-current from a feed-conductor, which may be provided through the trackway itself or through a feed-wire adjacent thereto, or the conveyor may be propelled by a constantlyrunning cable, both of which means of propulsion are illustrated in the aforesaid patent.

The post has above the oifset portion 40 the upwardly-extending post extension 43, having in its upper extremity the recess 44, in v which arejournaled the double sheaves 45 45,

and below said recess 44 the post extension is provided with the oppositely-disposed lugs 46 46.

The suspension-cable57 has one end portion thereof 58 connected toa member 47, which is threaded and forms part of the turnbuckle 48, the other'threadedrod 49, which is threaded at both its ends, being screw-engaged with the turnbuckle and also engaged through the aforesaid lug 46 of the post extension, a

confining-nut 50' being provided screwing on the rod member 49 and having an engage- The cable 57, extend ing from the turnbuckle, passes over the sheave, and in a catenary line has a half-turn IOC around one of the sheaves 45 in the next post, its end being similarly connected through the turnbuckle appliance with the lug of such post.

The track B is at suitable intervals embraced by the clips 55, each of a form suitably corresponding to the track, and each is provided at its top with an eye 58. The depending connections 56, the upper ends of which are connected with the longitudinal cables 57, have supporting connections with the eyes 58 of said clips, and said depending connections comprise double wires or rods the approached ends of which are screwthreaded and have therewith connected the turnbuckles 60. Each post extension 43just above the level of the trackway has the horizontally-extended lug 62, through which is inserted the upper extremity of a threaded rod which engages the eye of the adjacent track-supporting clip 55, confining-nuts 64 being provided.

The leveling of the trackway may be, as manifest, done both at the time of installing the plant and at various times thereafter as occasion may require by operating the turnbuckles 48 for the longitudinal cables and by operating the turnbuckles for the individual depending track-supports 56.

I may employ as the overhead-trolley track one having the form of a tube constructed with a bottom median slotway 65 and with trough-like longitudinal runner-ways 66 66 at both sides of the slotway, in which may run double wheels of a trolley from which the motor is suspended. This tubular form of trackway may be made of a cross-sectional form which comprises a median loop 54 at its top, which will greatly strengthen the track and stiffen it longitudinally. (See Fig. 4.) The track may advantageously have-the construction and cross-sectional form illustrated in Fig. 5, the same being made of two strips of sheet metal each having a flat upper portion 68, the outwardly-bent portion 69, the downwardly -bent portion 70, and the inwardly under-turned runner-forming portion 7 "72, two of these like bent strips having the portion 68 thereof placed facewise in contact and riveted firmly together. The said united portions 68 in addition to having the capabilities of materially strengthening the track, especially longitudinally, and producing an efficient track cheaply and easily, furthermore by the simple perforations '73 afford attachment means for the depending supports 56.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a track-supporting apparatus, of the character indicated herein, a post having an offset portion 40, and thereabove a post extension, combined With a trackway, having its position adjacent an upper part of the said offset portion 40, whereby the conveyer to run suspended from the trackway may pass unobstructedly through the space within said offset portion of the post, longitudinal flexible supports extending from post to post, and depending connections between thelatterand the track.

2. Theposts having in the upper extension thereof sheaves 45 mounted to freely turn and provided with lugs 46, of the longitudinal cables, end portions of which are passed around the sheaves, and have connections with turnbuckles which are also connected with the said post-lugs.

3. The posts having in the upper extended portion thereof, recesses 44 and double sheaves mounted and freely rotatable therein, and provided with the lugs 46, of the cables 57, the end portions of which are passed around the sheaves in opposite directions, the trackway having supporting-eyes at its top and turnbuckles comprised in depending connections between intermediate parts of the longitudinal cables, and said track-supporting eyes and the turnbuckles 48, 48, having connections with the extremities of the longitudinal cables, and the post-lugs 46, 46.

4. The posts A having the double bends 42, 42, and intermediate offset portion 40,and the upper post extension 43 provided near the upper bend 42 with the angularly-extended lug 62, combined with the longitudinal cables supported from the upper portions of the posts, and having depending track-supporting connections, and screw-rods confined in, and depending below, the lugs 62, and having supporting connection with the track, serving to steady the latter adjacent the posts.

5. The trackway of tubular form having an underneath median slotway, and having a connected top eye, and the posts having from their upward extensions, the longitudinal cables and the depending track-supporting connections 56, the lower ends of which are connected with each of the eyes at the top of the track.

6. The trackway of tubular form having an underneath median slotway, and having an embracing-clip 55, provided at its top with an eye, of theposts having upward post extensions, the longitudinal cables and depending track supporting connections 56, the lower ends of which are connected with each of the eyes provided at the top of the track.

7. Track-suspension appliances, and the track constructed as follows: the post A having the offset portion 40 and the upward post extension having in its upper extremity the recess 44, therebelow the opposite lugs 46, and also the lugs 62, the double sheaves 45, 45, in the recess, the longitudinal cable 67, end portions of which are passed around the sheaves, the double rods 47, 49, threaded and united by turnbuckles, one of each rod hav ing connection with the end of the cable, and the other having a confining engagement with a post-lug 46, and the trackway having of the track adjacent the post, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Springfield, Massachusetts, this 21st day of June, 1901.

GEORGE A. OWEN.

Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLOWS, M. A. CAMPBELL. 

